With age a large percentage of the population develops atherosclerotic arterial obstructions resulting in diminished blood circulation. The disturbance to blood flow that these obstructions cause may induce blood clots which further diminish or block the blood flow. When this process occurs in the coronary arteries it is referred to as a heart attack. Presently such obstructions are circumvented by surgically grafting a bypass or they are treated by angioplasty which tends to injure the arterial wall, create a rough lumen and in substantial number of cases is ineffective. Further, angioplasty does not remove the obstruction material out of the arterial system, therefore in a case of a heart attack, immediate angioplasty carries the risk of dislodging the blood clot and allowing it to move down stream creating additional blockages.
An objective of the present invention is to provide an atherectomy system having a flexible guide wire with a casing which positively guides a flexible catheter to and through an obstruction. The flexible guide wire defines a void or voids in which the obstruction material is positively held during the coring process. The process does not crack the vessel's wall and yields an enlarged smooth lumen.
Preferably, the system could be made in large and in small diameters, down to approximately 1 mm (millimeter) and a length of approximately a meter, to reach and enter small and remote arteries. The system's operation will preferably utilize the physician's existing skills such as: gaining access to the vessel, guide wire placement through the obstruction, angiographic evaluation of the obstruction, etc.
The above and other objectives of the invention will become apparent from the following discussion and the accompanying drawings.